Published in

Royal Society of Chemistry, Soft Matter, 5(9), p. 1711-1720, 2013

DOI: 10.1039/c2sm27089g

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Elastocapillary self-folding: buckling, wrinkling and collapse of floating filaments

Journal article published in 2012 by Arthur A. Evans, Saverio E. Spagnolie, Denis Bartolo, Eric Lauga ORCID
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

When a flexible filament is confined to a fluid interface, the balance between capillary attraction, bending resistance, and tension from an external source can lead to a self-buckling instability. We perform an analysis of this instability and provide analytical formulae that compare favorably with the results of detailed numerical computations. The stability and long-time dynamics of the filament are governed by a single dimensionless elastocapillary number quantifying the ratio between capillary to bending stresses. Complex, folded filament configurations such as loops, needles, and racquet shapes may be reached at longer times, and long filaments can undergo a cascade of self-folding events.